Summary

Pages 145 – 158. As In-hye goes to the ward to find her sister (present tense), she remembers (past tense) an earlier visit. On that occasion, she was warned, as she was being taken to see Yeong-hye, that her sister was constantly doing handstands, and had stopped eating. When In-hye found her, she was doing a handstand and had to essentially be pushed out of it. As they talked, In-hye was struck by how happy her sister seemed to be, but was taken aback when Yeong-hye talked about realizing that trees were, in effect, upside down: that they were reaching into the soil with their arms (i.e. their roots). She then went on to say that she no longer needed food: all she needed was water.

As In-hye goes into the ward in the present tense, she meets Hee-joo, a relatively high functioning...